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What’s become of the Colman report?

On November 17, 2010, President George Maxwell Richards, acting on the advice of Cabinet, appointed Anthony Colman as the sole Commissioner to enquire into the failure of CL Financial, Clico, Clico Investment Bank, British American Insurance Company, CMMB and the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society (HCU).

Mr Colman was asked to conduct two main exercises: The first was to determine the facts that caused the collapse of the financial institutions, which was framed in this way:

• The circumstances, factors, causes and reasons leading to the January 2009 intervention by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the rehabilitation of Clico, CIB, British American Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited and Caribbean Money Market Brokers Limited.

• The legal and fiscal bases which informed the decision of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in January 2009 to inject capital funding into Clico, CIB, British American and CMMB; how that injection of capital was structured; and what policies, procedures and processes were used in the distribution of this capital or funding;

• The causes, reasons and circumstances leading to the deterioration of the financial conditions of CL Financial Limited, Clico, Clico Investment Bank Limited, British American Insurance Company, CMMB and the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited, which threatened the interest of depositors, investors, policyholders, creditors and shareholders of the said companies.

Mr Colman’s second main task to evaluate those facts for two basic purposes: To ascertain who, if anyone, was at fault in relation to the collapse of the financial institutions and to determine “whether there are any grounds for criminal and civil proceedings against any person or entity; whether criminal proceedings should therefore be recommended to the Director of Public Prosecutions for his consideration; and whether civil proceedings should be recommended to the Attorney General for his consideration.”

Mr Colman was also asked to “make recommendations aimed at preventing a recurrence of the circumstances of such governmental or professional defects as might have been found and which have led to the need to set up the Enquiry.”